Banned Zimbabwean plays set the UK alight

By Lance Guma
15 August 2007

The first play to be banned in independent Zimbabwe, Super Patriots and Morons, has resurfaced in the United Kingdom and generating rave reviews 3 years later. The play nominated for the Amnesty International 2007 freedom of expression award is running alongside another political satire, Pregnant with Emotions, both the works of renowned producer Daves Guzha. Featuring a high-powered cast of Chiwoniso Maraire, Chirikure Chirukure, Walter Mparutsa and Guzha himself, the two plays will run 40 times in 3 different countries, namely Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

The play debuted in 2003 and featured an unnamed country whose economy had collapsed and was dominated by chronic shortages of basic commodities and long queues at every supermarket. After being allowed to run for some time the play only caught the attention of the government at the Harare International Festival of the Arts that year. Censors asked for the script before banning it. The other play Pregnant with Emotions received similar attention from Mugabe’s regime with the police refusing to sanction performances at venues around the country.

While acknowledging the good reception they have received at the UK festival, Guzha told Newsreel they eagerly await the chance to challenge the banning of their plays in the Supreme Court. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are helping them launch a constitutional challenge to the Censorship and Entertainment Act of 1967. Guzha says they have been told the first hearing in the case has been set for October this year. He blasted government paranoia saying they saw agenda’s where none existed. He said there is a tradition of villages using, ‘Dare’ where people debate various kinds of issues and government is now trying to stifle this cultural practice.

Meanwhile songstress Chiwoniso Maraire said she had no problem performing in a politically charged play. Although she says she has no affiliation to any political party, she insists artists cannot be ignorant of the environment they live in. Chirikure Chirikure was upbeat about the reception they have received so far adding that Zimbabweans now resident in the UK have come to support their shows.